360 
Long John. 
opening in the broken-off branch, because the shaking up of the tree 
had put the wliole colony in a slatc^ of excitement. AA'itli a fcAv stiong 
strokes of the paddles, we got the boat out of reach of the tree, and in 
tlie next minute, every man jack of us was in the stream, the only way 
to escape their furious onslaughts. Even some tame monkeys and 
})arrots did not remain free from their attack : the former, frantically 
tugging away, burst their ropes and jumped after us into the river, 
although they are animals most sensitively timid of water. After the 
bite of the Ponera clavata that of this yellow-brown species is the most 
distressing: the swelling, the inflammation and the pain remain visible 
and sensible for several days. Tlie Warraus call the tree Ipuahari, 
which as mncli as signifies Ant-tiee: the Arawaks speak of it as Yacuna, 
and the ants as Yacnna sae: llie Cnribs know it as Ttnssi, wher(\Ts the 
Colonists, owing to its lanky growth, have applied the name ''Long 
John" to it. After em])tying the boat with a good deal of trouble and 
many a painful bite, we lesumed our journey. T must admit that a 
secret shudder always seized me as soon as we came across one of these 
trees. 
SIT. Tlie lar-ther we followed the river the higher liecnme the luinks, 
the stronger the current, and the ranker the vegetation. .Judging from 
the spots laid bare through breaking away of the Itanks, the.se consisted 
of a n to 4 foot high layer of monld resting on a reddish clay that 
gradually took on a pure white and greenish colour: this was followed 
by a thick stratum of sand down to the water level. The huge Mora 
trees were regularly covered witli orchids, Tillandslas^ luxuriant 
'Avoids, tlie root.s of which hung straight down to the wa ter like a ship's 
rigging: many of these roots had a length of from 50 to GO l\;et. Associ- 
ated with them were Bifpioniar, Pa i^s^i florae and^ 'A ri><tohicliiar, whilei 
along the river-edges the On^plifa MeloUla Lindl., ornauHMited with its 
large beautifully coloured blossoms, flonrislied in a splendour such as I 
had never yet witnessed. A glorious Strychnos with its large leathery 
shining leaves and fragrant smell attracted miy attention: it Avas new. 
and in hononr of the celel^rated chemist. Mitsclierlich. T called it 
^trychnos MitscherHchn* The Cassia 1afifol4a, the big blooms of 
which for the most part break their way direct out from the bark of the 
trunk and branches like the Thcohroma, likewise afforded me an equal 
amount of interest. The so delicately-shaped wliite aromatic f1o\vei-s of 
the Mimtisops ^Sicheri DeC. spread their fragrance through the air. The 
Indians are passionately fond of tlie sweetish fruit of this Sa potarra , 
which seems to be distributed over the whole of British (iuiaua: when 
ripe, they think nothing of going a 2 or 3 days' joni ney to fetch it, but 
as the trees that cannot be climbed unfortunately get cut down when 
they bear a crop, this must reduce their number considerably. A 
botanical discovery just as valuable for me was a Caesalpiiiea, in fact, 
two new species of that very interesting genus Gynoimtra, C. ^chom- 
Tlie foüt-uote ;;iviiig its technical dfS(;t i|il ion. in Latiu, is uniitted. — (Ed.) 
